Legitimate Reasons

Was playing Skyrim the other day, and found my adopted daughter roaming about in something slightly less than appropriate:

 My only thinking is that perhaps she had the clothes stolen right off of her back. From a realistic viewpoint, I find this highly unlikely. From a gaming viewpoint, well, you get that dexterity up high enough you can do all sorts of crazy stuff. 

 Which is one reason I love tabletop RPGs so much. Games such as Dungeons and Dragons provide so much more room for story-telling and the imagination than even your most open world and sandboxy of video games.

As a DM for a local game, my players will occasionally ask me if they can do x. Can they justify doing x from a realistic standpoint, or have we entered the realm of Asian-martial-arts-film-gravity-defying power? My former boss at my job had a rule that was similar - she didn't care what we pinned  into the dresses, as long as it made logical sense and we had a plan for carrying it out. If we just pinned it just to pin it, then that was a no. If my players want to do a triple somersalt over this minotaur just for the sake of doing it, then no.

If, however, you can provide a legitimate reason for pulling the skirt up like that, or tucking that seam there, then go ahead. If you can provide a reason for wanting to set that on fire, then sure, go ahead.

That may seem a bit restrictive, but bear with me, I, too, have my reasons.

For the longest time in my writing I steered clear of any sort of 'magic' or magical systems. I didn't want it, because I'd seen too many books where, over time, the author decided to use it as a crutch.  Don't know how to escape from this latest hairy situation? MAGIC. Don't know how to solve this problem? MAGIC. I was tired of it, I consider it to be lazy, unimaginative, and flimsy.

I use that same logic with my players at the table. If they can accurately describe what they are trying to do - if they have a motive, some sort of plan behind what they are doing, then go ahead. You'll still have to roll for it, of course (nothing is free), but you can at least try.

I won't say this approach hasn't backfired before. In some cases, if a player wants to do something, but can't give an in-character reason why, then I've denied them, and subsequently they had a much more difficult time with the encounter or puzzle. I'm then faced with - well, if I had just let them do it, maybe it would have been easier.

But that's not the point.